Yoshino
by Starry's Light
Summary: Devil Survivor oneshot. Cute take on how the Song of Hope ending got started up, mainly with Haru/Protagonist implied feels.


**I ship these two a lot, haha, so I figured I may as well write them a sort of story about how they got together. Man I wish Devil Survivor was like a dating sim xD that would be hecking great, hahaha.**

 **I just love the woman herself Yoshino Harusawa a little too much**

 **Oh, I called the protagonist Latane because I did, there's no easy short reason. That's just his name.**

Yoshino

The sky had recently bloomed in that morning a rosy lilac, and he'd kind of figured it would go away once the sun rose. Then the sky stayed purple. Then throughout the course of the day, the sky got even purpler; and by the end of it all he met a bloody red sunset.

Latane was fine with all of this. He was the type of person who would only watch the world burn after he'd put his sunglasses on. It was hard to say, whether the responsibility of setting the globe aflame had fallen upon his shoulders or he was just a hapless bystander, but he wouldn't mind it nevertheless.

Over the course of that day, he had been buffeted with onslaught after onslaught of one-liners poking him in the ribs, guiding him to do something drastic, like murder all of the demons, become the second Jesus, pull his shirt off and fight them all to the death in a pool of his own blood. Become their king. Do what Yuzu wanted for once.

He was just kind of annoyed. Beneath his mussy navy blue hair, tired eyes pervaded. He didn't even really care about his state or the world's state or the fact that demons kept trying to murder him; he wanted everyone else to shut up. If only his headphones worked, if only his old MP3 player hadn't died on the first day of hell, he could've been a little more tolerant of society's little morality-nudges.

What did he want, anyways? Not much. A pack of cheetos, maybe. To try alcohol before he died. That raunchy body pillow he _knew_ he should've bought last month.

After a long day, the beating of the dying sun upon him, he leaned himself up against the nearest guardrail and stared down at the ground. His shadow, a putrid brownish-reddish tinge, stretched out past him into ever browner shadows just beyond him. He could make out, if he tried, the concert hall.

"Oh, don't tell me you've lost all hope to live too. I'd be pretty bored without your spunk."

A foot nudged against his sneaker.

Turning, he grinned at the woman whose shadow, redder and lighter, had crossed over his own. She sat herself on top of the rail, pressing the little buttons on her broken sound-machine-thing, her red hair in her gaze—yellow, the only speck of sunlight left.

"Nah, not quite yet. Come back later, maybe you'll be lucky."

Haru snorted. "Yeah, yeah." She not-even-subtly adjusted the strap of her skimpy white dress, which was still just as much in danger of falling off as it had been before she bothered. What had she even worn it for? A concert the night before the lockdown happened, and she was stuck like that the rest of the week? She acted like she didn't care, but the way her eyes slid into his and checked whether or not he was checking her out kept him guessing. "Just making sure. You're fun."

"You're right. I am the most fun."

She swatted at him with a black-gloved hand. "Don't talk like that. It sucks the joy out of your soul. Makes you _bor_ ing."

Clearing his throat, he tried again. "I am the _greatest_ , most _funnest_ human being to ever grace your life."

"Damn straight." She snorted again, blew a red strand out of her face. "So what brings you here?"

"Bored too."

"Mmmm." Her eyes, gold slits, cut out along the horizon. "Won't be for long if some asshat demon shows up again. Seems like you can't get any peace and quiet these days." Her voice, a low drawl, parted for a yawn. She stretched her arms behind her head and kicked her feet a little.

Latane totally stared. "Ahh, they're no bother. I can kill one, light it on fire, cook it up, then serve it to you for dinner."

"That is disgusting," she giggled, "I mean it sounds disgusting. Don't mean to of _fend_ you if shredded _demon flesh_ is your _forte_." Play-gagged. "So much as it does, I'd probably eat it anyways." Her stomach made a little telltale sound.

He pouted. "I think Atsuro scrounged something up, if you'd like."

"Naaah, nah." She waggled a hand. "He's a strapping young lad. Needs his, uh, moldy bread loaves. I'll be fine."

"If you say so." He didn't believe her. She didn't believe that he believed her.

A comfortable silence settled about them, like the clouds overhead. But they swirled, now, and the two could watch as tiny whorls of blackening red formed within pinched crevices of the sky. They could watch sparkling bits flit through the air and settle somewhere above the deranged, apocalyptic remains of Tokyo.

He tried to be subtle as he stood up and sat on the guardrail next to her. Nudged a hand near her.

She not-so-subtly put her hands in her lap. Then her eyes flecked his way, filled with a silent laughter.

Even with red framing her soft, pale skin, she managed to shine.

"So, got anything else in your life story? Grew up, tossed around by relatives, lived on your own... Aya, Gin, here. Am I missing something?"

"Hmmmm..." She pondered it, her head cupped in a hand. "I dunno. Probably." But she didn't elaborate. "Man, stop asking me about myself! It's about time you told me about _you_ , you know. It's only fair."

Her narrowed golden gaze settled upon him. She watched, examining his purposely empty expression, his hair obscuring his face but for a jagged smile. Curious, was she?

"Aww, it's not even that interesting, though." Latane shrugged, and when he did it, he casually leaned his shoulder against hers. Holding back a snicker, she let him get away with it. "I grew up in a particularly normal family. I mean, other than Naoya. My cousin is a senseless genius—he's so smart it makes your brain go numb."

"Pfft." She flicked a hand toward him, nearly touching his face. "Go on, go on."

Latane leaned a little more. Haru hardly reacted. He took that as a solid sign to continue. But then she wobbled and almost fell off the guardrail and he had to chill, and she distanced herself slightly, her lip split in a half-grin. "Well, I knew Atsuro since we were kiddos when he decided Naoya was exactly the kind of person he wanted to be when he grew up. Yuzu... showed up... at some point." He honestly didn't remember. That didn't make him a bad friend, right? Oh, _who_ was he kidding, he didn't care if it made him a bad friend. "I dunno, uh...

"I mean, it really was normal! We had pancakes every Saturday morning, and my parents read the newspaper, and we had a dog for a while, and I played outside until I hit puberty and someone in my class deemed it uncool. I don't know... I'm pretty typical."

"You go ahead and keep saying that." Her gaze had yet to falter. "Typical or no, I appreciate you listening to me." A pause. She dragged her tongue across her lip. "If you're a typical high school boy, does that mean you listen to whatever the voice in your pants is saying and plan to move on after you meet a total babe ten times hotter than I am?"

There's a wobble in her tone, as if she's realized too late what she's asked.

"Oof. I hope not." He stared into the distance, his gaze eclipsing and consuming something akin to an abyss. "I'd really hate it if the voice in my pants decided to chase after someone else."

The steady smile returned.

She nudged him. "See, c'mon, who says that? I do. And apparently now you're saying it too. You're not _that_ typical."

"Mmm, you'd be surprised."

Haru clenched her hands in her lap.

Smoke settled along the line of clouds like a rainstorm. Another fire had broken out somewhere. They couldn't smell it, from where they were, but he could feel the rough clog of burning in his lungs. So much burning lately.

Latane spoke up. "Tokyo's become the kindle that will serve as the start for the flame that will eventually burn down the entire world."

"Dang, that's deep. Maybe I'll turn it into a song for you...

She trailed off, then shook her head. "I rather hope you're not right, my little nihilist in the making." Paused again. Couldn't seem to get something out of her mind. "Aya would've hated this so much. Man. I know I talk about her a lot and all, and Gin's probably told you the same thing, honestly, but she really was a sister to me and... thinking about it, ugh, it makes my skin crawl. She'd hate this so... much.

Carefully, balancing on her thin support, Haru drew her legs up and secured her arms around them, tucking her chin over her knees. "I kind of just want all the demons to go away. One of Gin's friends, he's like, let's beat up all the demons and take them over, and then the Shomonkai are like, let's go literally raise a, like, what did you call them, a king demon? They're all, let's raise our king demon and make everyone worship it. And then... and _then_ , it just... God, it piles up.

She leaned her cheek against her leg and sighed. "I want it all to go away."

Latane raised his head, and he saw Haru again.

He saw behind tired legs and grubby skin and scratches and dirt stains a bright light, hiding within two sun-colored eyes, the only thing that remained. Her feet dangled over the edge of the guardrail, and despite all probable odds, she sat there, contented, her hair and her dress _just_ disturbed by a slight breeze.

...and Naoya wanted him to become a goddamn demon king.

"Hey Haru," he asked, "what's your first name?"

"Why?" Her eyes returned to him. He felt his heart flutter. The last person who'd made his heart flutter was an anime character. It turned out that he preferred Haru to the anime character.

Latane smiled, his voice soft. "Because I want to know."

"I dunno." Haru managed a little smile back. "Maybe I'll tell you if you make all the demons go away."

And he didn't even know she was kidding.

He took Gin and Atsuro and all of his resources and in the next two days made every last demon go away.

And he didn't even understand the capacity of how much it would mean to her.

 **A cute spin on the Song of Hope ending, ahaha. I love Haru and the protagonist's dynamic.**

 **I thought about continuing what happens after where I ended, but... that's too solid an ending. Expect another oneshot later though because I maybe already wrote about cute Haru Latane shippy feels heck me**


End file.
